


Mommie Dearest

by floridian_trash



Category: Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers: Rescue Bots
Genre: Divorce, Flashbacks and Memories, Mommy Issues, Organized Crime, Takes place after Season 4, custody battles, mama burns? dead? nah not here
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-23
Updated: 2019-12-07
Packaged: 2021-02-26 05:55:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,869
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21528682
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/floridian_trash/pseuds/floridian_trash
Summary: Cody wishes to know more about his mother, but sometimes ignorance can be bliss.
Relationships: Cody Burns & Burns Family, Cody Burns & Original Female Character(s), Past Charlie Burns/Original Female Character
Comments: 9
Kudos: 29





	1. Her

**Author's Note:**

> Creds to therockscientist14 for helping me come up with this fanfic idea! She basically helped me outline the entire thing because she's the best friendo.

"Birds of Maine, Fish of Maine, Early New England History…" 

Cody skimmed the spines of books on the vast bookshelf. He was looking for a book about Griffin Rock’s history- he was sure he had it- for his history project. As his eyes scanned over the books they caught one in particular with no title on its spine, tucked high up and away. The blond stared at it. He’s never seen this book before, and he has stood in front of this bookshelf over a hundred times. Curious, he pulled it down. 

It was a big binder-like book with a thick cover to it, and guessing from the cloud of dust that choked the teen, it must have been tucked away for years. After a small coughing fit Cody wiped off some of the left over dust on the cover. He discovered a simple white cover with a colorful bejeweled butterfly in the center. It was the words underneath it that captured Cody’s attention; _Burns family photo album_.

The words hit the blond like a truck. He never knew his family had a photo album. His family always said that they just weren’t the type to make one. He only got a chance to see past photos of his family in old cameras and yearbooks in the attic. But in his hands he held a book that possibly contained his older siblings’ _baby_ photos or even his own, which he’s never seen before. His history project will have to wait. 

Cody kept the book close to him as he rushed back to his room. He didn’t want anybody running into him with it, even the bots. He loved them, but they are not afraid to share, and if his family was keeping their photo album a secret from the youngest, it meant its discovery will have to be hidden as well.

Once safely in his room the teen sat on his bed. He took another look at the photo album in front of him. The butterfly in the middle took center stage. It was made up of 5 jewels, each a different color, but one was obviously missing from its body. Each wing was a different color; yellow, blue, green, and orange all in that order. The head was a dazzling gray. He wondered what color the sixth jewel was, maybe purple? Cody took in a deep breath before flipping the cover over and revealing the first page. 

His eyes looked onto a collection of photographs. In the photos was a young man and woman, happily smiling and laughing in each one together. The man adorned a classic black tux while the woman wore a long elegant white dress. Staring at the man - because boy did he look familiar - Cody took notice of his brown hair and smooth face. Then a daunting thought came to the teen’s mind. Carefully, he reached into the space between the smooth cloth page and protective plastic screen and pulled out the photo of the two from the center. He flipped it and read the words scribbled on the back in sharpie. 

_Charlie and Beatrice’s wedding, 6/4/1987_

Cody froze like ice. No wonder this man looked so familiar, it was his _father_. And that lady was... his mother. Flipping the photo back around he inspected her image closely. While the photo was old, he could still make out her features. She had a large sweet smile and strawberry blonde hair pulled back into an intricate bun. When he looked closely he could make out the blue in her eyes. Even in this 30 year old photo they manage to sparkle. 

The blond stared at the photo for so long the woman’s image was imprinted in his mind. This woman, the one he was staring at, was his mom! Cody knew nothing about his mother, nothing about her looks or her personality. Whenever he tried bringing up the topic of his mother, his family always shot it down fast. They would either switch the subject or tell him to not ask about her. Sometimes he even forgets that he has or had one.

And yet there she was, staring up at him with a smile brighter than the stars. His family couldn’t hide this from him. Cody felt his heart ache- he never knew her, and with the way his family acts he never will. He doesn’t even know if she is alive or not. Yet the teen could feel something within him say that she loved him, and he was simply an innocent bystander in what happened all those years ago when he was too young to remember anything. The smile felt like a hug he’s never gotten before. It was tight but warm and calmed nerves he didn’t realize he had. 

Cody slowly slipped the photo back into its original place. He turned the page over slowly, stealing one last glimpse of the wedding photos before moving onto the next pages. The pages slowly progressed in time. Soon he encountered photos of his siblings as babies, starting from his parents in the hospital with newborn Kade. Dani didn’t appear too long afterwards. It reminded the teen that his two eldest siblings were only about a year apart in age. On the next page Graham appeared, and as page by page was flipped he could see his siblings growing from little babies to kids. 

After turning another page the teen found another photo of interest. It was a photo of Graham and his mom at what seemed to be a school science fair. His brother looked young, about ten years old, smiling brightly next to a trophy about half his height. Cody has seen that trophy before in Graham’s room high on a shelf, though it looked bigger in the photo than in real life. What caught his eye was his mother, who stood proudly next to his brother with an obvious bump protruding from her belly. 

His mother was pregnant with him in this photo. It was crazy to believe, but there she was with a developing Cody inside her. It was bittersweet to see. His mom was probably happily expecting her new baby boy, but she was never around. He wanted to know what happened, why she isn’t around anymore, and if there was any chance to meet the woman who carried him for nine months. But how can he ask? His family doesn’t like talking about his mom, but he doesn’t like not knowing anything about her. He’ll have to pull something with his charm and wit to get _something_ from them. Maybe he’ll go after Graham first. 

* * *

_Beatrice sat comfortably in the back leather seat of the car. Both hands rested on her bump, gently rubbing over the top. “Oh my little baby, you are going to be such a treasure. Only four more months till you’re here.” Her thoughts were cut off by the ringing of her cellphone. She checked the number before answering._

_“Hi honey.”_

_“Hey. Where are you?”_ _  
_ _“On my way to a meeting. It should be short, and I’ll be able to come to Graham’s science fair.”_

_Charlie sighed on the other line. “Good. He’s very excited about it and I’m busy at the station.”_

_“He should be. He’s been working so hard on his project. He’ll take first prize I just know it. And don’t worry, Graham will tell you so much about it you’ll know more than those who were there.”_

_Her husband chuckled. Their current youngest was very avid in his science experiment. They had to force him to go to bed many times or else he’d stay up working. She hoped those tendencies didn’t carry into his adult years._

_The car rolled to a slow stop. The chauffeur met her eyes in the rear view mirror to alert her that they were here. She held up a finger to hold him there, him nodding to confirm his understanding._

_“Hun I have to go soon. I’ll take Graham home after the science fair. Do you want me to pick something up for dinner?”_

_“No, Kade’s going to try making dinner tonight. Hopefully he won’t be as bad as Dani.”_

_Beatrice laughed, remembering the time she walked into a kitchen smelling of smoke with burnt rice in the garbage._

_Charles laughed along with her. “Well,” she could hear the smile in his voice, “I guess I should let you work. I’ll see you at home.”_

_“Bye hun, I love you.”_

_“I love you, too.”_

_The call ended with a click. Once she put her phone away the chauffeur nodded to two men standing near the car. One of them men walked over and opened the door, the other assisting her in standing up. Once on her feet she strode into the small neighborhood laundromat. On the door hung a ‘Sorry, We’re Closed’ sign with covered windows surrounding it. The inside was barren of customers, the only ones inside were her assistants and a scrawny man tied to a chair._

_Beatrice stood in front of him and smiled coldly. “Hector, you know you are like family to me. Your family has worked closely with mine for years, and for that I spoil you. Out of all of our clients you get away with a lot of things many don’t.”_

_She held her hand out to the right. “However, that does not mean you get to get away with everything.” In her hand one of her assistants gave her a wooden baseball bat._

_The man’s eyes went wide, pupils shrinking. “N-no, please I-”_

_“Ah ah ah!” Beatrice interrupted. “Save it. I don’t want to hear your excuses or apologies. You knew what would happen if you tried to test me.” She stepped closer to the man, slowly tapping the tip of the bat in her left hand. “You’ve got me mad Hector, and me being mad isn’t good for the baby. My baby.”_

_With a large swing she struck Hector, nearly knocking him over in the chair. Crimson splattered against the white linoleum tiles. She swung at her victim a good number of times before she was interrupted by one of her assistants._

_“Boss, we need to be leaving soon for you to get to your son’s science fair on time.”_

_Beatrice lowered her bat and checked her watch to confirm. Her assistants never lied to her, but she thought she had more time to teach her old friend a lesson._

_The woman pointed the splintering bat towards the man. “Remember this. Next time you won’t get so lucky.” She warned with a panting breath before dropping the bat and exiting the room with two assistants by her side._

_One of her other assistants, a young boy, picked up the red stained bat. “Whoa,” he stared at it in disbelief, “she’s crazy.”_

_“Of course she is,” an older assistant responded while untying a bleeding Hector, “you gotta be if you’re the boss.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! Thanks for reading! I'm trying some new themes in this fic so if anything seems off don't hesitate to comment.


	2. The Visit

Cody was busied by the many calls that came in of Mr. Harrison and his heli-pack malfunctioning yet again. He alerted his family right away and heard the sirens and Blades’ rotors head out. He tracked Mr. Harrison as he flew about the island with the camera system. 

“Dad he’s heading towards the playground. If you take this next right you should get there before he does. There’s also a lot of trees in his area.” 

_ “On it. We’ll corral him into the trees before he reaches the playground.“ _

The teen listened as his father ordered the team to capture Mr. Harrison. Him, Chase, Graham and Boulder would block his path to the playground, hopefully forcing him into the trees. Heatwave and Kade will come in helping Mr. Harrison down, and Dani will assess any injuries the man got from his adventure. 

It took some time and a lot of maneuvering from the team, but they finally managed to catch the out of control heli-pack in their trap of tree tops. Cody watched as Kade climbed Heatwave’s ladder to help the man out from the thicket of trees. Mr. Harrison had been in this situation so many times before that it was almost routine. Over the comms he could hear him and his brother make small talk as he was rescued. 

A ring of the front doorbell took the teen’s attention. Seeing as the rescue was over and no upcoming ones were happening anywhere on the island, he turned from the control pad and walked to the front door. Hopefully there won’t be any emergencies while he was away. Very few people came to their front door, mainly because it wasn’t in the front, it was on the side. Everyone who usually comes to the firehouse goes through the garage doors in the front, even the mailman. In fact, very few people know of their front door- Cody was surprised that the doorbell even worked. 

When he opened the door, he was met with an older woman about the same age as his father. He’s never seen her on the island before, he knows practically everybody, but she has an air of familiarity about her. She looked to him with wide eyes and a gasp, studying his image. She soon embraced him tightly, crying softly into the collar of his bomber jacket. 

“Oh my sweet baby Cody.” 

Her muffled sobs sent panic and anxiety through Cody’s nerves. How did this lady know his name? Why did she call him her baby? And why was she hugging him so tightly? 

When she finally pulled away, she looked to him with a big smile and held his face in her hands. “Oh, you’ve gotten so big…” 

“Um,” Cody finally spoke, “I’m sorry but… do I know you?” 

The woman blinked before laughing lightly. “Of course you do sweetie, I’m your mother.”

* * *

Heatwave extended his ladder for his human partner to climb. Once the redhead made it up to the treetops he looked to Mr. Harrison, who was dangling too casually from the branches for anybody else besides Mr. Harrison to be comfortable. 

“Hi Mr. Harrison.”

“Hi Kade.” 

Chief watched as his eldest helped the man down from the trees. Blades landed nearby with Dani for her to assess any injuries Mr. Harrison may have. He was sure the man got a few cuts and bruises from his joy ride. The police officer was about to head over to where his kids were but got his attention stolen by a man leaning against a nearby tree. 

There was nothing suspicious about him, just a middle aged man wearing a casual black t-shirt and blue jeans with his hands in his pockets and sunglasses covering his eyes. No matter how casual and normal the man seemed to Chief, there was something deep within him that told him he knew him, and that nothing good could be happening with him being here.

The man smiled to him. Charlie took this as his invitation to go over. 

“Charlie, it’s been a long time.” The man greeted.

“Same for you Andrew. What brings you back to Griffin Rock?”

“We missed the place. Plus boss has some unfinished business she needs to take care of, so this is just a nice business trip for me.” 

Charlie rose an eyebrow at that. Any business ‘boss’ had on this island he knew had to deal with either him or his family. 

“What business does she have?”

Andrew shrugged, “Don’t know. I figured it’d be with you but she didn’t want to follow you out here when we passed you guys earlier.”

“Where is she?” 

That prompted a chuckle from the other man. “Can’t tell you that exactly, but let’s just say she’s home now.” 

The police chief stared at the man as things began clicking in his mind. Before he knew it, Charlie was inside Chase speeding off back to the firehouse. 

“Chief?” A concerned Chase popped up on his visual. “Where are we going? And why are you driving me above the speed limit?” 

Chief didn’t answer. He gripped Chase’s steering wheel and kept his foot firm on the gas pedal. He stubbornly kept his eyes on the road, not even taking a quick glance on the screen. 

_ “Dad? Where are you guys going? Is there another emergency?”  _ Graham’s voice cut in from the comm link, but Chief still couldn’t find the will to talk. He was too determined and focused on one thing and one thing only. 

“I have to get to Cody…”

* * *

Chief burst through the front door and ran up to the living area. He scanned the room before quickly finding his youngest on the couch. Immediately he ran to the boy. 

“Dad-”

“Son are you okay?” Charlie dropped down to his youngest and checked him over.    
“I’m fine, Dad.” Cody attempted to ease his father’s frantic checking. 

The police officer was about to speak when he noticed something- no, someone- out of the corner of his eye. He let his eyes shift towards the woman he knew was here. 

“...Bea?”

“Hi Charlie.”

Seeing his ex-wife sitting there on the couch was hard for him to believe. He didn’t mind her smug face, but how she looked the same but with age. Her strawberry blonde hair had gained some gray hairs, and he could spot the crows feet near her blue eyes. But besides that she was still Beatrice, his ex-wife and the mother of his children. 

“You’ve aged well.” She spoke with such a calm air, it was almost choking the man. 

“It’s been a long time.” 

“Didn’t mean for it to be.” 

Cody shifted awkwardly under his father’s grip on his shoulders.

“Why are you here?” 

She let out a short laugh, “Why to see my youngest of course. I know I haven’t been around and what kind of mother would I be if I didn’t see my own child?” 

Charlie rose an eyebrow to that. “After 15 years?” 

“I know, I’m not proud of myself. I’ve thrown myself into my work, and I don’t exactly have a good name on this island, but none of that matters anymore. I want to see and spend time with my son and I’m doing that right now.” 

There was something in his gut that didn’t trust what she said. He hasn’t felt this feeling in a long time, almost 15 years, but it’s never wronged him before with Beatrice. 

“Why are you really here?”

The woman smiled- it even looked like she was going to laugh. And it was then that he realized that he was fooled. She wanted him to ask. She knew he wouldn’t believe her until she exposed her entire plan, and she was willing to do so. 

“You know me so well Charlie. Well I’ll tell you- I want to take Cody with me for the summer.” 

The man turned white. Of course she would only turn up just to cause trouble. Only she, Beatrice Ricci, would suddenly step back into his life after 15 years of no contact just to be a pain in the ass. 

His grip on Cody tightened. “No,” he spat. 

“Now Charlie, you must consider the boy’s feelings in this. You never know, he might want to come with me.” 

Charlie looked down to his youngest. Cody seemed to shrink under his father’s gaze and turned away from it. 

Seeing the impending scene unfold in front of her, Beatrice stood up from her seat. “I should leave you two alone to talk about this. I’ll be back at this time tomorrow, hopefully you two come to an agreement by then.” With that, she walked out of the living room. Her heels could be heard clicking farther and farther away until they were silenced by the closing of the front door. 

With his mother gone Cody turned reluctantly to his father. “She didn’t hurt me," he spoke immediately, "All she did was hug and talk to me.” 

“Look whatever she said to yo-”

“Dad,” Cody interrupted, “how come you never talk about mom?”

Charlie gave a long sigh and rubbed his face, “I don’t think you’re ready to know all of that yet.”

“Why not?”    
“Because, there’s a lot about your mother that not even your siblings know. I… I can’t let you know all of that yet.”

There was a heavy silence between the two before the teen broke it. 

“I want to go with mom over the summer.” 

The Chief stared at his son in shock and disbelief. He blinked, trying to process his youngest’s proclamation. “You  _ what?”  _

“I want to get to know her.” He started. “I know practically nothing about her and you and the others refuse to tell me anything. I thought she was dead, but there she was alive and ready to take me in. I want to know my mom.” 

“Cody,” his father’s tone became stern, “I don’t know what your mother is planning, but I know it’s not good. After 15 years of no contact she suddenly waltz in here and wants to take you away? I don’t trust it and I won’t allow it.” 

“But what’s two months to 15 years?”

His father sighed once more. How could he explain to his youngest that his mother was dangerous, especially after the large display of love and affection she probably pulled to trick the boy’s mind with?

“Please Dad?” Cody begged. “Just two months? If I don’t like it, I'll ask her to let me come home earlier.”

Charlie knew that Beatrice would take Cody no matter if he liked it or not. He knew that she knew the law and knew that if they brought it to court, she would win on the grounds of having legal shared custody of Cody. Hell, she’d probably get the judge to make it a legal obligation for Cody to visit her for all summer vacations until he was 18 and add holidays on top of it. He knew he should have tried to take away her custody of the kids when they divorced, but he just didn’t have it in him at the time. It was hard enough with explaining to the kids then that mom and dad won’t be together anymore, how could he told them that they’d never see their mother again? But he should have had that talk with them, because they never did see their mother again once she moved to the mainland. 

Then Charlie realized that he made the assumption that she would take the legal route. Lawsuits and court orders would take too long, even if she did have a winning advantage. Though he knew to the best of his knowledge that she would never stoop that low, he knew she might just kidnap Cody from the island just to spite her ex-husband.

With a sigh, he gave in. Why fight a battle you know you’ll lose? 

“You will call every day,” he spoke sternly, “And you will tell me if she does anything that makes you uncomfortable, understand?” 

Cody brightened a bit and nodded, “Yes sir.” 

Overhead Blades’ rotors could be heard as the garage doors opened downstairs. The two had a lot of explaining to do. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just wanted to say at this point this fanfic is longer than my Extended Essay (which was over 3800 words) and both chapters are longer than two of the mandatory essays I've had to write for school and I'm very proud of that.


End file.
